Coming into Clearwater

Clearwater

Monday we have a nice relaxing morning Steve on the computer me sleeping in. Steve' s sister Sheila, husband Michael and sons Kiernan & Griffin arrive around noon bringing lunch with them. We visit & have lunch in the cockpit before leaving the dock to go for a sail. We have a great time visiting and the boys seem to really enjoy the boat. We roll up the sails and drift as Michael & the boys jump in for a swim. Heading back to the dock we all get into position to help with the lassoing of the pylons as we back into our slip, and manage it quite well. MUCH more difficult than pulling up behind our house back in Kemah. We all walk down to the beach and out onto Pier 60, then watch some local entertainment before walking down the beach looking for a place for dinner. Since it is still spring break places are still packed (1-2 HOUR wait), on our third place we find a great Italian restaurant - Al & Stella's that can get us right in & have a great dinner. All hand made pastas and great combinations of ingredients.



Tuesday we have a message from Gina that her brother Kelly (who is visiting with his kids from Atlanta durring spring break) is at the beach near us and he will let us use his car if we need to. This is a great offer as we have never met him. We call Kelly and phone introductions are made, he even brings the vehicle to us so we can go to the grocery store. We finally get the car back to Kelly. The beach TRAFFIC is very busy & after the first try with NO parking spots available Steve goes to find a West Marine with no luck. He does luck out finding a parking place on the second try, returning Kelly's car. Than Gina comes to pick us up after she gets off work and brings us to Best Buy where I buy my new Gateway notebook computer :). It took Steve & I a week to realize we needed 2 computers as we were always vying for computer time when we finally get a signal. We go to dinner at another great restaurant - Rumba - in downtown Clearwater with Gina and her bother Kelly and his son Blake & daughter Lauren join us. Then to a yogurt place for dessert before going back to the boat.

Panama City to Clearwater

Our planed early dawn departure for Friday 4/2 was delayed due to VERY heavy FOG, could not see the front of the boat from the back so we were not going anywhere. As we were waiting for the fog to lift the forward head decided to stop working, so the time was put to good use as Steve fixed the head. It takes till 10:30 for the fog to finally lift BUT Steve was still working on the head. By noon the head is working again so we clean up and put everything back into the forward storage area (where Steve had to go to fix the head) and by 1 we are headed back to Panama City Marina so Steve can make a quick post office run. The nice lady from the marina lets Steve use her truck to go to the post office where he gets the SS radio part mailed off. By 2 pm we are sailing out the bay towards the gulf. The land breeze does not last long so sails rolled back up and beating into small 1-2 foot waves with the light wind on our nose. We are on our way to Clearwater BUT are in no hurry now as due to our late departure we need a slow passage, so we do not get there in the night, as we will not go into an unfamiliar channel at night. Another beautiful afternoon and evening on the water. At 4 pm we start the 2 hours on / 4 off rotation watch schedule. At night with the stars out, before the moon rises, our wake is causing a phosphorescent glow off the stern of the boat. It is almost hypnotizing watching the "glowing" water - it looks like white does under a black light. A dolphin splash near by leaves a glowing halo. It is such a beautiful sight. Later the moon shine lights our way but there is very little to see, nothing in every direction just water sky stars & moon very peaceful. Saturday morning sun coming up to another beautiful day - we sure have lucked out with the weather so far, just the one morning of fog, the winds could have been a little stronger & at a different angle at times . But all in all a great crossing. By 11 AM we alter course a little to be able to sail and turn the motor off. The quiet sounds SO wonderful. We literally have time to kill as we do not want to get to Clearwater before daybreak Sunday morning. At 5 PM we are back on course, nice slow motor sailing, able to have a nice dinner on board with the calm seas. We arive at the Clearwater channel entrance just at daybreak and watch the sunrise as we come in the channel Easter Sunday morning. As we come in we hear 24 Karat calling the marina, and think wow, there's another boat with that name. As we back into the slip, docked in the slip right next to us IS 24 Karat. They bought the boat from the Pleasants in Kemah about a month ago, and have been traveling the ICW down to Clearwater since then. Talk about a small world. We get docked and crew Carl Hallock treats us to a farewell breakfast, as his sister Sandy will be coming to pick him up this morning. Carl will remain in the Tampa area outfitting his sail boat for his own future crusing plans. Sunday afternoon is spent cleaning the boat and doing laundry. HOPE to be able to put our thermals & warm clothes away!! Weather is getting much warmer now and we should not have to do any more overnight passages. We get in touch with Steve's sister Shiela who is down at Anna Maria Island on vacation from Chicago with her family & make arraingments for them to come up Monday to visit & go for a day sail. Sunday evening we walk down to the beach & out onto Pier 60 to watch the sunset. A lot of people still in the water !! Water & air temp. still way too cold for me. Walk down & find a nice place for dinner at Clearwater Beach side cafe. It is spring break so most places are packed, but not too long of a wait. Walk back home to the boat at the end of another wonderful day.

Anchorage at Panama City

Panama City - more pictures

Pictures coming into Panama City

Destin to Panama City

9:15 AM & we are out in the Gulf again. The HI is still hanging over us so clear beautiful blue skies :), calm seas :), and light winds :( , so we are motor sailing with the main out doing 7+ knots towards Panama City. A little warmer still layered BUT don't have to wear our coats :). Seems the water is just getting cleaner and bluer it is just so beautiful out here. 30 minutes prior to our turn into the channel to go into St. Andrews Bay the wind shifts so we get to sail for 30 minutes. Up the Bay to the City Marina for fuel - top up with 45 gallons. On the way in we see a fire boat from New York ?? We are wondering what the heck are they doing down here, turns out it was made here to replace one of the ones lost during 9/11. They even used some steel from the downed buildings to make the letters & #'s on the boat. After fueling up we got to watch the fire boat testing the hoses & what a spray - photos to follow. 5 PM we are at anchor again in Smack bayou. So if I smack Steve up side the head it's not my fault. Having trouble with the pactor modem for the single side band radio so tomorrow morning we will go back to the fuel dock & run over to the post office a few blocks away to send it off to be repaired then figure out where we will be to get it sent back. Then we will do an overnight / aprox 2 day trip down to Clearwater Fl.